The Graduation Dance

Congratulations to all the graduates at every level, college, high school, middle school and kindergarden. This is a necessary ceremonial marker to remember significant transitions and major accomplishments.

OK, maybe not for the kindergarden graduates. That one might be more for the parents.

But for those who put on robes and hats at this time of year, it is important that we all acknowledge the achievement of completing a course of study. It was my great pleasure to attend a graduation last Sunday and to honor my son, Gus, and his friends as they moved into a new phase of their remarkable lives. Here they are, giddy with relief and tossing out a leg to take the next big step.

While I am filled with a father’s pride in my graduate and overwhelmed with admiration for excellence of his friends and the education they were offered, I did find parts of the final rituals a little comical.

Saturday night featured a ceremony where the graduates gathered in the chapel, heard speeches from classmates, sang a few songs, and then went out onto the campus grounds to find a lantern with their name affixed. Over 700 lights were aglow in the falling dusk. To hasten the search, the lanterns were arranged alphabetically. It was a beautiful scene with lovely symbolism, and weirdly appropriate that the final test after 16 years of schooling required a public demonstration that one had mastered those confounding ABC’s.

The next day was even better – I loved the sight of all the scholars marching in orderly lines to their rows of assigned seats – something I had just seen on an old videotape of a preschool holiday pageant. Major difference – as pre-schoolers, they were allowed to bang drums on the way.

And then came the ordeal – sitting under a merciless sun in 90 + degree heat for two hours wearing black robes and caps – something no truly educated person would choose to do. I wondered if the administration would unveil a late stunner of a surprise and award diplomas only to those who had the sense to skip the ceremony.

But no, this was a final, necessary hurdle, and will be remembered forever by the graduates for their sense of educational accomplishment and the light headed feeling of stubborn pounds most certainly lost through perspiration. On a molecular level, this graduation was a race between the need for the learned speakers to say every word they had carefully written, and the assured disintegration of the student’s bio-degradable robes. Moisture always wins in the end!

Congratulations Graduates! Now you know how to be patient and obedient, and if you hadn’t learned it before, now you know how important it is to hydrate!

i remember my high school graduation in 1973 being on a hot sweaty evening with the long flowing baby blue polyester robe sticking to parts of me emmitting those odd polyester odors. the list was 1400 students long and jones is in the middle so i was spared the zimmerman challenge but i am reminded every now and again about the approach to the podium i got to participate in. with my long flowing robes and my long flowing hair in the days when streakers and flashers were in their hey day their was a rumor i would do something provocative. i was unaware and did my simple march to the podium, as i did the wind became part of the act and gave me a marilyn monroe wind beneath my robes number blowing it up to show my marvelous legs. i had come in the blue jean cut off to the length that would allow 2 inches of the pockets to stick out below the cut. the opposite of todays shorts that allow 2 inches of ankles to see the light. the assumption was that i was naked beneath my gown and i got lots of comments and jabs about how cool that was. i was oblivious but it is remembered by others as a highlight to the shindig. after the graduation we had a group of 100 or so that went to taylors falls to party down but the pigs were there to keep us moving down the line. 30 or 40 carloads of hippies in vw vans with smoke wafting out of the windows were enough to have the local guards of the park decide we were not to be allowed. the group dispersed and 10 or so of us found a spot nearby to build a campfire, pitch a couple of tents and suck down a couple bottles of boones farm to wet our munchie craving cottonmouth whistles.

I have already posted too often about my graduation. The college ran me out of town the day before graduation. The exact words of the dean of men were, “When the sun comes down, we don’t want you to still be in town.” I thought they only talked like that in cheap westerns!

When my former wife got her MA I attended that graduation. A campus activist was the speaker. For 45 minutes under a merciless sun he harangued about gay rights, and I sure wish they had run me out of town before that ceremony.

No. I’ve never felt it was appropriate to publish an unexpurgated version. I attended a party that got out of control. Other guys did really nasty things and got caught. I had moderately inappropriate intentions, but did nothing bad. And I got caught. The dean had to respond to the nasty stuff, and I was punished along with them for the sake of symmetry. Sometime when we are together I can tell you the funny parts. I assume we’ll see each other . . . you still have toys stored here from Liam’s visit. :)

In my hometown there was a college that is now closed. Many cousins, my aunt and my parents had attended that college. We went to each graduation ceremony for the relatives. One cousin graduated Magna Cum Laude and my aunt, who by then had 3 chidren, graduated Summa Cum Laude. My mother had attended college there where she met my father. As was the tradition for women then, she could teach after two years of college so she quite after two years. My father transferred from this college to Iowa State University where he actually graduated 3 years later.

After dad became ill and unable to work as a very young man, they moved back to this town so my mother could finish her four year degree. She did this while teaching and raising three young children, then continued on to get her Masters of Education in 1969. Mom’s parents came for the graduation ceremony. Grandpa needed a new suit for the event. He found one on sale at Bowers Men’s Store. He proudly wore this to Mom’s graduation. When we arrived home he gave us all the instructions that he should be buried in that suit when he died–he wanted to get his money’s worth out of it.

Sounds like your relatives set the bar pretty high in terms of educational achievement, Jacque. I admire your mother’s determination and accomplishments, especially when you consider the difficult circumstances, an ailing husband and three young children. I’d love to hear more about your early life, I bet you have some interesting stories to tell. I trust that your grandpa got some mileage out of that suit between the graduation and his funeral.

Family weddings were the other big event where the suit showed up–often because it was such a large family. Thanks for noting the Stratton Work Ethic tim. Indeed the bar was a high one. PJ, if you really want to hear the “Stratton Story” it is a long and dramatic saga. I am happy to be on this end of it rather than perched on the end of the 60’s with Grandpa’s suit.

Good morning. Congratulations to Gus and also to you, Dale. That’s a big accomplishment including, for Gus, managing to make it through that last bit of torture of sitting in the heat with in that robe.

Most of the graduation ceremonies I attended were also more or less torture. In Albert Lea they held them inside so at least you didn’t have unfavorable weather conditions to withstand. I didn’t mind hearing the speeches by the student in my daughters’ high school classes. It was somewhat interesting to hear what they decided to say. Other speeches I had to sit through at graduations were generally not too good, except for the one by Gorilla Girl at one of my younger daughter’s graduations. Gorilla Girl wore a gorilla mask and talked about feminist issue

my sons high school graduation was held inside the school gynasium in st louis park circa 1948 no air no windows no open area. 3 hours of sweating in the nosebleed seats of the basketball risers. i was happy to be there though. he went through the worst case of senior slump anyone had ever seen. his counselor had to pull the trigger to get him passed. his mom was/is a counselor there and was able to pull some strings. she got him a note saying he sufered form depression and called her adhd card and got him through by the skin of his teeth. being three steps ahead of the game is still not in his bag of tricks but he is functional these days and enjoying life. graduation is a good point to mark a point of reference to look back on.
gus is off and running now and with the lessons he has learned here on the trail without having to participate i bet he will figure out a bettter way while he realizes the value of having a group of comrades to go through life with. monetarily there may not be a measurable payoff but theres more to life than monetarily measurable stuff. then again there is something to monetarily measurable stuff too. hope gus figures it out. maybe he can explain it to me sometime.

Oh, wow, I’d forgotten about the Guerilla Girls! They were all about actions protesting sexism and racism in the art world. I’ve just looked them up on Wikipedia, and they’re still around and making trouble.

Really? There was a student (gender unknown) in a gorilla suit and a yellow parasol at my daughter’s graduation. Maybe she/he was a Guerilla Girl! I didn’t understand what the message was supposed to be.

Yes, it was one of them that spoke at my daughter’s graduation. I don’t remember details, but the message had to do with over coming the dominance of males in the arts. My daughter was aware of these issues because some of her male classmates were not great artist as far as she was concern, but did promote themselves as being great by acting as though they were big shots in a macho kind of way.

My high school graduation in 1959 was remarkably short on fanfare. For starters, we were only 15 graduates, 11 boys and 4 girls. My father was at sea, so he couldn’t attend, and mom for whatever reason didn’t attribute any significance to the occasion, so she didn’t show up either. My best friend’s father invited the two of us out for an ice cream following the ceremony. I remember that mostly because the waitress who served us the ice cream failed to give us spoons to eat it with. When Mr. Bentsen asked her if we could have some straws, she looked at him in puzzlement. “What do you need straws for?” she asked. Mr. Bentsen replied: “Well, you didn’t give us spoons, so I thought perhaps we could use straws.” This upset her, and she made some nasty comment before she stomped off in a huff to get our spoons. Ulla’s dad, a successful businessman who was always cracking jokes, made a point of leaving an extra large tip to show her that he had meant no harm.

your mom didnt show up. the times have changed a bit. we make a big deal out of graduating from elementary school today. i dont remember ever hearing about your familuy or early life pj. class of 15, dad out fishing i did see where in denark you are form and it looks like an interesting place to grow up in the 50′. ill bet you have a few stories to share.
were they wearing poodle skirts in denmark in 1959?

tim, my dad was a sailor in the Danish merchant marine. He’d be gone for 6 months at a time, then home for three weeks before he’d sign onto the crew of another ship. He missed most of my childhood. My mom grew up in an extremely poor and dysfunctional family in Drogheda, Ireland. She had only a grade school education and never fully appreciated the value of a good education. Like Jacque’s, it’s a long story full of drama and tragedy. And, no, I never owned a poodle skirt, they weren’t big in Denmark, and even if they had been, I would, no doubt, not have owned one.

My most vivid memory was listening to Shirley Chisholm speaking at Northwestern for my brother’s graduation in 1979 or so. True to tradition, I do not remember a word that she said; I remember that I was dazzled by her charisma, her clear and forthright manner of speaking and her message. She was a powerful speaker who confirmed my commitment to social justice, at a time when many around me were not supportive. Made me feel really good, put some starch in my determination.

I don’t remember a great deal about any of my graduations (I skipped the ceremony for my MLIS, so I really don’t remember that one!). My parochial high school had a tradition of the graduating classes buying gifts for the school (the class before mine donated trash cans ?_?) and also singing a “class hymn.” Well, my class took our cultural designation of “slackers” quite seriously. We never got around to collecting for a gift, and when it came time for the class hymn (which had been chosen for us, not by us, I might add), one of my friends passed out photocopies so we didn’t have to go to the trouble of memorizing it. I also remember I bought the cheapest class ring Jostens’ provided because everyone insisted I’d regret not getting one, and turned my keepsake tassel into a cat toy. Did I hate my high school, I hear you ask? Why, whatever gave you that idea?

For my undergrad, my mom was in the hospital so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I might have done–showing her the video when she got home wasn’t quite the same as having her there. St. Kates had (still has, I hope) a real sense of style–they gave us pewter medallions of St. Catherine designed by a former art professor and their class ring design is lovely even if a creepy woman asked me once if it was a fetus (it’s a capital C with wheel spokes, of course). My ring doesn’t fit like it used to, but I still have it, my medallion and my Phi Beta Kappa key and cord. I don’t remember the speeches or any of that, just the lolly ;-)

Morning!
Congratulations Gus! And Dale and Nancy too. Well done all the way around!

My graduation was pretty dull. Don’t remember anything special about it. It was out on the football field at my school with the other 424 graduates. My wife came from a class of 25. Her reunions are almost more fun than mine.
My best friend and I had our grad parties together at our farm. I remember one girl showing up at 8:00 in the morning because she misunderstood the invite. And I remember thinking ‘yes, but who would have a party at 8:00 AM??’

Last year when our son graduated from HS the ceremony was in the local Community College Fieldhouse.
Everyone was warned that ‘hi- jinx’ would not be allowed nor tolerated and to please hold your applause until everyone – all 440- had received their diplomas. Well, that’s pretty boring isn’t it?
So there was some whooping and hollering. Kelly and I did some whooping ourselves for son and his friends. When the ceremony was over an older gentleman in front of me turned around and glared at me and said I had a “big mouth”. I thanked him but I don’t think he meant it as a compliment.

(This year they’ve moved all the grad ceremonies to the downtown Mayo Civic Center. They don’t want to take any chances with outdoor ceremonies and weather. Besides, people will all go downtown and spend money this way.)

Highview Alternative Program (high school), where I volunteer, has an amazing graduation ceremony, where 15 or 20 kids each get the stage for a while. Their mentor-teacher introduces them, including any pertinent information or story. The words are honest and heartfelt – I remember one teacher starting with “When I first met Josette I didn’t really like her.” Then the graduate personally thanks the people who have helped them get there, sometimes telling part of their story, and then many of them give advice to those still in school. When my son graduated, they were each given a red rose.

But the part that brings me to tears every time is when, on the very day when they hand in their last credit to the “scorekeeper”, the secretary turns on the intercom and this message is spoken:Hear ye, hear ye. Let it be known that “Zach” has graduated! Then you hear a huge “whoop” from all the classrooms, and some kids start streaming into the office to give hugs to the graduate. When this is done and they’ve all returned to classes, the new graduate is free to leave and begin the next phase of their lives. But they almost always come back for the ceremony.

Like Gus, I sweated it out for my college graduation on the central lawn of my college in my black robe and hat (though I did unzip the robe – I had a tropical-print strapless dress on underneath…got an interesting sunburn that afternoon). August Wilson was our speaker – my mom remembers way more about what he said than I do. High school was memorable because my friend Tim got a new motorized wheelchair for graduation, and the new one was capable of rolling across the football field (the old one was a paved-paths-only kinda chair) – as I recall it was shiny black with yellow and orange stripes on the sides. Also, there was a Native American kid who I didn’t know who was a competitive “fancy dancer” – he got special permission to wear his feathered bustle and all for the ceremony – it was pretty fabulous (I felt under-dressed). Skipping ahead to the Masters degree – what was memorable there was sitting and waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the law school students to get done before they got to the rest of us (Liberal Studies, Education, Public Administration…do-gooders, the lot of us…). More memorable was that it was the first day my middle-niece decided once and for all that my brother was okay. When she came from Korea, she had huge stranger anxiety (not uncommon at 5 months or so) and latched on to my sister-in-law. Would put up with my brother grudgingly, but if Mama was anywhere in shouting distance, had to be with her. My nephew was sick, so sister-in-law stayed home with the elder child and Big Brother came with his (then) youngest – apparently an afternoon of hanging around on the lawn of a college campus waiting for a bunch of people in black robes to march around was a bonding experience…she’s kinda been a daddy’s girl since then. :)

Congratulations to Gus and his parents – hope the next steps in the journey are grand!

It was only months actually – she was still an infant – but March to May is a lot when your kid is soooo tiny. The youngest niece was exactly the opposite – happy with whoever she was with (she’s still like that 9 years later).

it is amazing to me that in hind sight they sualy come out of the womb exactly as they will be. it takes a while to recognize it but all the shaping and molding to make them who they can be is secondary to celebrating who they come to the world as.

Heartiest congratulations to Gus and Dale et al! An important milestone. We will be interested to hear how he uses his sheepskin.

I went to a brand new college (I was in the first graduating class) in upstate New York. Spawned by a venerable men’s college, my college was 180 degrees different from it. No grades, write your own major, very liberal.

Our graduation was held in a field behind the campus (which was far from completely built) under a tent. A horse dressed as a unicorn with a rider in a renaissancy outfit led the procession along with a bagpiper. (never having been to a college graduation before, I assumed we had invented the bagpiper thing but I do know it happens elsewhere). No caps and gowns, just whatever hippie garb each individual chose.

My roommate and I ended up in a full page picture in LIFE magazine because a classmate’s father was a LIFE photographer.
Graduates were allowed to speak as they collected their diplomas (there were only about 90 of us) but not everyone did.
One of the graduates got up there in her blue jean cutoffs (very short shorts) and said that her time at the college had been a waste and that her diploma was useless. Someone in the crowd shouted, “Well then, rip it up”. She did. She was a very bright but quite angry woman. I don’t know anyone who knows what became of her.

My college graduation was outside and my biggest memory was the dogs that roamed campus (left behind when students moved, but well-fed and housed) got into a big fight in the middle of the crowd during the address by the diplomat du jour.

All I remember about the U of M graduation ceremony in 1963 is that if we didn’t attend we didn’t graduate. So I went and got my postcard which had to be mailed in to receive an actual diploma. The family all went out to dinner and Mom & Dad gave me a wallet, a matching cigarette case, and a $100 car that was painted flat blue and lasted almost 2 years.

#1 Son graduated from Tisch School for the Arts at New York University. Even for a sub-school within the university, the graduating class was huge. After attending the all-university event at Washington Square (Greenwich Village) where a single graduate represented each of the schools (under and grad) and where Neil DIamond performed (VERY badly), Tisch had a separate event at Radio City Music Hall The students came from backstage left and right, heading toward the center of the stage. The two lines crossed and they went down the stairs into the audience where they sat for the rest of the ceremony. Some actress whose name escapes me spoke and some dancers danced. Then, instead of any kind of diploma presentation, the names were projected on a huge screen like movie credits and people tried to applaud and cheer as their graduate’s name scrolled by.

THe other interesting thing about the big graduation in Washington Square was that the speaker was the NYC police chief. This was the first graduation after 9/11 so it was pretty moving and he announced that, having been through it, all the graduates were now New Yorkers.

Thanks for the congratulations and good wishes, everyone!
In answer to those who wonder what Gus will do next, he has joined Teach for America and will be a high school math teacher for the next two years in Memphis, Tennessee. This may seem like an unusual step for a Theater and Norwegian major, but he is very, very good with numbers and I have no doubt he’ll be an excellent instructor and role model. An interesting sidelight – today the Strib noted that St. Olaf is now doing something unusual for colleges, all in the name of promoting the value of a liberal arts education. They’ve made database available online so anyone can browse the job and/or education destinations of the entire 2011 graduating class!

That is so cool. As a liberal arts major myself (also a theater double-major), I like to make a game of “what was your major and where did it take you”…? The answers are far more interesting from the liberal arts majors than the business school types, IMHO. Bravo to Gus for signing on to Teach for America – an excellent next adventure, I’m sure.

congrats dad, a teacher. good stuff. norweigen and theater, thats a pair of majors to draw to. i bet it will end up being an interesting journey. memphis will be an experience. its a little different than minnesota.

that is phenomenal. i always want to know how the education turned out and where it steered you. this is not evading it like i usually run into it is throwing down the gauntlet and proclaiming that st olaf will undoubtedly lead to wonderful things. just look!!!

I graduated from the U of M in 1968 and in June of that year, thousands of us gathered in Memorial Stadium for the ceremony. Our keynote speaker was Malcolm Moos, the new U president and the commencement address was to be his first major speech. Just after we were seated, dark clouds moved in and the sky turned pitch black. A University administrator raced to the microphone, pronounced us all graduated and we all ran for cover as the deluge started. Love those short ceremonies.

I’m friends with his ex and his daughter, they live a few blocks from me. Two of the most fun and interesting people I know. Last time I saw Malcolm Moos was at the Commodore Hotel in St. Paul, many, many moons ago. He was at the bar, a little worse for the wear, but he had an unmistakable aura about him. He may not have been a likable man, but he sure was interesting

Hello all,
I’d like to thank Donna from Sioux Falls who stopped in Albert Lea today on her way home, and made arrangements to meet this morning. It was fun to visit about the blogging on Dale’s Trial Balloon. I’m trying to get back in the habit of checking out Trail Baboon, although it’s harder to get into the thick of the morning discussion. So, I have now met Donna and Jim from Clarks Grove. Jim and I live only about 8 miles apart but don’t cross paths very often.

I just love the idea that baboons writing on this blog feel compelled to meet each other when the opportunity presents itself. It speaks to the sense of community created here. I have met some, look forward to meeting more. Hope you chime in more, Mike.

youre better than us mike. we hear form donna about once every blue moon while school is going on. she is our prodigal daughter. but she might show up for that music festival in st peter if they can keep the price down. welcome back

I have such vague memories of any of the graduations I attended. Neither I nor my husband attended our graduations when we received our PhDs. We were so sick of school by that time that we didn’t have the energy to get to Winnipeg to go through the ceremonies. I sort of regret that now. I never bothered to get my stole, and I should look into that, now that I think of it. As I always played in the band in college and High School, my graduation memories are musical-playing through Pomp and Circumstance or whatever march/processional umpteen times until everyone was seated, entertaining with some special selection, setting up outdoors and trying to see the director as the sun set in my eyes, music/music stands blowing away or chairs sinking into wet turf, bugs, trying to play as I cried.

Renee, I had the same reaction to getting my graduate degree and I didn’t go to the graduation. I’m sure you are familiar with the writings of Carl Rodgers who said graduate school was a lot of making people jump through hoops and badly needed reforming. The best part of my graduate school experience was outside of the classroom and I was told that I was putting my degree work at risk due to the extra curicular activities that I favored.

My daughter is doing very well. All six in the chain are doing well, all easily tired but getting stronger. My daughter only missed one Sunday in the pulpit and she was in church that day. All three kidneys are working very well in their new homes. The woman who has Becca’s kidney is having some reactions to the drugs, but mild and manageable. Becca’s friend is doing very well. She looks pink for the first time in anyone’s memory. No bags under her eyes anymore.
I have been skimming and scanning the Trail every evening. I have had nothing to say really on any of the topics. I would not comment today; too many pitfalls for me to comment on educational topics.
Sandy–not sure what I should say. Two weeks ago she went to the emergency room by ambulance because I could not get her into the car. Nine hours later they told me to take her home. She had no broken bones. Interesting isn’t it? They decided they would give her a her a pain shot so I could get her into the car and home.
Tomorrow we have an appointment which will determine some things.
Lupus is not nice.

Glad to hear that your daughter and all the various people in the donation chain are doing well. Sandy’s situation must be worrisome. If pain is under control, you can manage most anything; if it is not, every little bump in the road becomes a major obstacle. I’m sure all of these things beyond your control weigh on your already compromised condition. Please be as gentle with yourself as you can. I’m sure we’re all thinking of you.

Way, way OT. Not that anyone cares or needs to know, but tonight, for the first time since I came home from the hospital I had a bath; a sit down soak in my old claw-foot tub. I’ve had showers, but I love to soak in the tub, but haven’t dared to get into to the tub for fear of not being able to get back out. My right arm is now strong enough that I managed, with a little help from husband, to hoist myself back out. Heaven!

congrats pj i being a fellow bathtaker can share the pain not taking a bath would bring. i am glad t hear that you are up to the effort at last and that progress is continuing on your road back to prefall existence. get a good book and make an afternoon of it. 5 or 6 water infusions of new hot to replenish the relax more is always the way.

I’m have a BA in English, it’s okay because my minor was Art. After a few years in clerical work, I stumbled into a job at a major computer manufacturer in the Twin Cities training keypunch operators. I had a car, you see, and had experience training word processing operators. Retired from the State of Minnesota as a computer analyst. You can’t do that these days without a computer science degree so my timing was lucky.